River Park construction frustrates neighbors

Stretch of Pleasant and side streets difficult to navigate

SOUTH BEND - A construction project to install new sewer lines is raising a stink among people living in one section of the River Park neighborhood.

Crews began work on five blocks of Pleasant Street back in May. Pleasant is located east of South Bend and north of the St. Joseph River.

It’s all part of the city’s plan to install new sewer lines that separate storm water from sewage water - phase two of that 10-year, $120 million plan to take control of the city’s water flow and prevent sewage from overflowing into the St. Joseph River.

But people who live nearby say a few months of road construction have turned that stretch of Pleasant Street and the side streets around it into a parking nightmare.

“It’s been terrible. Everybody is (parking) on the side streets,” said John Oppelt, who lives on Pleasant.

Oppelt and other neighbors told WSBT cars can often be found parked on the wrong side of the street or blocking driveways and alleys.

“In the morning when everyone is trying to leave for work, it’s like a three-ring circus out here,” said Connie Swanson. “Everyone is jockeying for space and to try to get out. You’re having to do strange 14-point turns or drive backwards a block down the street.”

Sandra Fuller recently moved into a home half a block off Pleasant Street. She is not as upset with the parking situation as she is with how all the construction is affecting her 11-year-old autistic son, Ethan. He rides the bus to and from McKinley Primary Center for summer school.

“There’s not any room for the bus to come down the road or come down the alleys or turn around or anything,” Fuller said. “He’s actually having a big problem not getting picked up in front of the house, being confused and having to be dropped off some days at one part of the street.”

Fuller currently has to walk Ethan more than a block down their street and around the corner to catch the bus.

There will likely be even more frustration after construction is complete. Alongside the sewage project, city engineers say they also narrowed the road to help slow traffic.

The street used to be four lanes wide, with two of those used for parking. But after the construction project it will be three lanes and parking will be allowed on only one side of the street.

“They could give a damn whether I have off-street parking or not,” Oppelt said.

Some neighbors said they’re glad to see a narrower road if it means slower traffic on their street, and Nuner Primary Center is less than a block from the beginning of the construction site. The changes should help alleviate speeding near the school zone.

South Bend police are ticketing some illegally parked cars in the area, but police spokesman Capt. Phil Trent told WSBT that officers are trying to be forgiving, going to that neighborhood only when they receive a complaint about an illegally parked car from someone who lives there.

This phase of the project is expected to be complete by the end of August.